Concepts in Synthetic Biology: SynBio Simulations Inc.

"Got a synthetic biology
project or concept, but lack the tools and facilities to bring it to
life? Got something that won't fit in a petri dish? Let Synthetic
Biology Simulations Incorporated (SBSI) lend you our years of experience
and world-class facilities. We have a fully staffed zoological wing
that can handle anything your imagination and our technicians can
synthesize. From single species studies, to small-scale engineered
ecosystems, we have the expertise and experience to handle your projects
safely and efficiently."

August 13, 2014 - Synthetic Biology Simulation Incorporated (SBSI) is a fictional
institution exploring what a future may look like when we gain a good
enough understanding of DNA and how to manipulate it. One day we will be
able to create entirely synthetic life, from bacteria up to and
including animals like livestock and novel creations for entertainment,
studies, and completely engineered ecosystems.

Simulations & Synthesizing

A better understanding of genes not only allows us to manipulate them
better in a lab, but gives us the ability to create better simulations.
Genetic simulations, a computer model that tells us the characteristics
of a particular genetic code and how it might respond to a given
environment or stimuli can be used as is to test a single organism, or
run simulations on entire lineages of selectively (or randomly) bred
organisms. What would normally take nature or breeders hundreds,
thousands, or millions of years to accomplish, can be done at the speed
of our fastest processors.

SBSI's laboratory SBSI's
severs run 24/7 extrapolating millions of years of genome evolution in a
fraction of the time it takes nature. Simulations can spot-check
evolutionary trees by actually synthesizing organisms and studying them
first hand. Several organisms separated by thousands of years of natural
evolution can be synthesized and studied in parallel.

While actual selective breeding takes a long time, and at any given time
you only have specimens with one set of characteristics to study,
simulations can allow us to develop several lineages in parallel. Along
the timeline of any given lineage, several versions of a particular
species can be synthesized in the lab and compared in parallel,
first-hand.

SBSI's laboratory would
synthesize all projects big and small. It would also observe and analyze
synthetic micro-organisms. Larger organisms would have to be housed in
SBSI's zoological wing.

This is where an institution like SBSI would come in, doing both of
these for clients. Safely handling synthesized life, keeping it in and
other contaminants out, would require a specialized skill set and
customized facilities where a good track record would be important.

SBSI's zoological wing handles larger specimens that cannot be
contained on mere petri dishes. A cross between a veterinarian clinic, a
zoo, and a laboratory, the zoological wing is a showcase for some of
SBSI's most impressive work. Larger enclosures are available, as well as modular, wheeled enclosures for smaller specimens.

We could imagine that in the future nearly anyone would be able to
create and contain synthetic organisms of any size, however, larger
facilities like SBSI's not only would allow large specimens to be
contained, but could be used to study entire engineered ecosystems.

Instead of just a miniature elephant breed, perhaps there would be a
whole list of interdependent, specially synthesized organisms that were
being developed for a particular climate or environment. These could be
tested together at a facility like SBSI.

In the future humans may eventually begin building larger, torus shaped
space habitats with large, permanent populations. Gravity may or may not
be similar to that on Earth, depending on the centripetal forces able
to be achieved by the habitat's rotation. Lighting conditions may also
vary. Engineering ecosystems better suited to the atmospheric,
gravitational, and lighting conditions that would exist there could be
the key to making these habitats more livable and self-sustaining.

Similarly engineered ecosystems could be created to colonize Mars. While
humans spend time terraforming the surface to something more closely
resembling Earth, engineered ecosystems could start at the other end,
designed to flourish in existing Martian conditions, and gradually be
modified as terraforming took place. A facility like SBSI would be
essential to develop and study such engineered ecosystems before
implementation.